It’s not your dog’s fault. The overweight dog has only its owner to blame. In our Golden Lyly’s fat case, my husband and I are guilty parties.

During her checkup last fall at Bethel Animal Hospital, Dr. Gary Stuer brandished a chart. The dog’s weight had increased two to three pounds a year for six years.

We put Lyly dog on a diet. No more milk bones, doggie Snickers. Cut back on the kibble, add chopped carrots and no-sodium canned green beans. Make sure she gets enough exercise.

There are a lot of fat dogs in the world. East Rumford veterinarian Fred Kent thinks the percentage of overweight dogs may be as high as 50 percent.

But we don’t see fat dogs on our roads and streets. Why? Because the fat dogs are at home, lounging around on comfy doggie beds or your couch. The dogs you see being walked or run, such as Carolyn Kennard’s Daisy, are rarely overweight, never mind obese.

Stuer estimates that “15 to 20 percent of dogs (I see) are obese and 25 to 35 percent are overweight.”

His figures are based on his observations. His colleagues, he notes, might report different percentages.

It’s hard to imagine an obese greyhound, isn’t it?

Stuer concedes that some breeds may have a greater tendency to obesity than others, but, in general, “all breeds are susceptible to obesity. And, yes, I have seen overweight greyhounds.”

What makes dogs fat?

Animals are just like humans, Kent said. “Too little exercise and many more calories than they need just lays down in fat.”

“My own dog is fat,” Marcia McKenna admitted. “She spends most of the day near me, sleeping on a couch.” But many dogs are alone all day while their families are at work or school.

Increasing a dog’s exercise is hard. But changing its diet isn’t.

The first known commercial dog food dates back to 1860. But Spratt’s Patent Meat Fibrine Dog Cakes apparently didn’t take hold, and for the next century — as for centuries before — dog diets didn’t change much. Dogs ate what their families ate: table scraps, a fairly well-balanced diet.

In the 1940s, dehydrated dog food came on to the market, as did canned meats. Dog owners enjoyed the economy and convenience of just-add-water meals. Producers rejoiced in the profits they made from dog food made of a lot of grains and fillers and meat parts traditionally discarded as unfit for human consumption.

Farewell table scraps. Hello, fat dogs.

You’d think that eliminating commercial pet foods altogether makes sense.

“In an ideal world,” Stuer said, “we would all feed our animals fresh, home-cooked, completely balanced diets. But that takes a lot of work . . . and it’s expensive.”

Kent agrees and points out that owners often add unhealthy home-cooked foods to their pets’ dinner dishes.

The solution seems to be to buy commercial dog foods that are well balanced, with appropriate amounts of protein, not too many grains and no fillers.

Rover is a little plump, so what? Here’s what. Overweight dogs are at risk for many of the conditions overweight people are: diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, digestive problems, arthritis, to name a few. Right weight dogs live better and they live longer.

But it isn’t easy. Nearly three months after the fat dog diagnosis — three months of carrots and beans and low-calorie kibble, three months without doggie Snickers — Golden Lyly stepped back onto the scales in the lobby of Bethel Animal Hospital.

Lyly had gained 1.5 pounds. Be patient, was the advice. It takes a long time for dogs to lose weight.

Guess so. They really are like human beings.

Linda Farr Macgregor is a freelance writer. Contact her at jmacgregor1@roadrunner.com.

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